I've now been in Ghana two weeks and I'm already behind on my blog. I'm not sure how that happened but the daily tasks like hand-washing my clothes, feeding the dogs and occasionally chasing goats out of my garden have somehow taken over! The journey from Accra to Wa was hilarious and arduous in equal measures. It definitely deserves its own blog post. Although, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure my words will be able to adequately describe it.

I travelled with a current volunteer called Sarah who is based in Lawra, and another new volunteer called Jane who is based in Wa. The three of us took the overnight coach which set off at 8pm from Accra on Sunday evening and arrived in Wa following morning. I thought it would be a good way to travel, waking up refreshed and ready to settle into my placement. (Wrong).

We arrived at the bus station an hour before the bus was due to leave and waited in front of the bus marked 'Wa' to have our bags ticketed and stored underneath. Plenty of time! (Wrong again). We waited and waited, until told we were standing in front of the wrong bus. Vague hand-waving and finger-pointing ensued until we located our, far shabbier-looking, bus.

By this point the luggage space underneath our bus was nearly full. Boxes, bags, and huge sacks of rice filled the comparatively small compartment. I watched and laughed as two men hauled a fridge on its side and pushed it on the bus while unidentifiable fluid ran everywhere. I'm told that sometimes live pigs and goats are transported underneath too. I hadn't packed light - a rucksack, a suitcase, a big handbag, and my motorbike helmet. On top of that VSO had given us each another bag containing mosquito nets and water filters. Even with my limited spacial awareness I could sense that the remaining cargo wasn't going to fit.

This didn't seem to be an issue. Excess bags were heaved up through the coach window and stacked in the racks above, in the emergency staircase, and in the aisles. By this time the coaches were beeping their horns as a sign they were nearly ready to leave. In Ghana overnight coaches travel in convoy, and some have an armed policeman on board, to guard against hijacking and robbery. It's not a common occurrence but an incident of coach hijacking happened about a year ago and measures were swiftly put in place to prevent it happening again.

As we found our seats the loud music began…and continued. The seats were covered in plastic wrappers which nobody removed. This basically meant that every time the coach hit a bump in the road I slid off my seat. Not conducive for sleep.

At this stage I should give the roads a mention, especially the road between Accra and Kumasi that takes a few hours. This road is not made of beautifully smooth tarmac, but instead a red, dusty, pot-holed, windy, bumpy and long stretch of track. In a previous job I worked as a caseworker for an MP and often listened to constituents complain about the state of the potholes in the roads. At the time I was sympathetic and wrote letters on their behalf. Now I would send them for a bone-shaking ride along the Accra- Kumasi road and tell them to stop whinging.

After Kumasi, the roads were tarmac and much smoother. Even then, speed bumps placed at strategic locations are designed to throw you from your plastic-covered seat at 3am.

The loud music eventually stopped. To be replaced with very loud Nigerian films containing lots of speaker-distorting screaming every time the ghost of some long-dead ancestor appeared. When one film finished, another one was put on. If you ever need to make an overnight bus journey in Ghana I can't recommend enough the benefit of earplugs and an eye mask. I'm eternally grateful to the volunteer that pass on this priceless nugget of information the day before my journey.

The Ghanaians, it seemed, had no problem sleeping through this racket. I probably managed an hour at most. But I arrived in one piece in Wa the next morning and then thankfully travelled onto Jirapa in the luxury of a car. Anyone intending to visit me in Jirapa be warned - it's a very long and bumpy coach ride from the capital!

Love Alice x